Review: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Pub. Date: December 2009
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover, 563pp
Age Range: Young Adult

Synopsis
There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

Review
Beautiful Creatures is a must read for 2009! I don’t know if I can express how much I love this book and give it its proper due in a few paragraphs. Beautiful Creatures is one of those books that you want to absorb every moment until it’s been engraved in your head. When I got down to the final pages I didn’t want the story to end because then I had to accept the inevitable – The Ending. WOW! The events that led up to the ending were heart wrenching.

I was so wrapped up in this book, I felt like I was living Ethan’s life. Everything about this book felt real to me. The dysfunctional family gatherings, the high school drama, the history of Gatlin and most importantly the characters themselves – I was awed with the authenticity of Beautiful Creatures.

Readers help authors by spreading the word and buying books but I want to take this moment to thank both Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl for writing a great book and I’m just happy to be able to share my thoughts with readers regarding the excellence of this novel. I can’t believe it took them 3 months to write the first draft but the finished product is one to behold indeed. I was thoroughly impressed with the detailed history of Gatlin and how it was merged with the Caster World along with the southern drawl and Latin language for the casts.

I could go on and on about everything that I loved about this book but instead I’ll keep it short by saying – Beautiful Creatures has everything you could possibly want in a novel. I asked both Kami and Margaret this question in an interview: “What comes to mind when you hear the words ‘the perfect story’?” To answer my question – the answer would be Beautiful Creatures.

I look forward to reading the next installment in this series.

Rating 5 out of 5 Stars

Monday Madness (23) Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

What is Monday Madness?

It’s the phenomenon affecting all book lovers as we count down the hours in hopes of getting our hands on highly anticipated books on release day. So, come join me throughout the week where I will be featuring Author Interviews, Reviews and Contests for great books.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Pub. Date: December 2009
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover, 563pp

Age Range: Young Adult

Synopsis
There were no surprises in Gatlin County
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

Beautiful Creatures Book Trailer


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Interview: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

I'm thrilled to welcome authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl to my blog. They stopped by to talk about their current novel, Beautiful Creatures, which is in stores now.

Please welcome these talented ladies!

FBR: How did you decide on writing a book together? What was the process like?
M: We were already so many things to each other: friends, critique partners, therapists…becoming writing partners just seemed like the logical next step.
When we stumbled across a story we wanted to write together, in a place we wanted to write it, everything sort of fell into place.
K: Writing together was surprisingly easy. We have very similar writing voices, and, more importantly, we had the same vision for the story and the characters. Neither of us has any ego, so that helps. We both have the power of veto.

FBR: Writers will often describe a reading experience that made them want to put the book down and go start writing immediately. What authors have inspired you in that way?
M: Harper Lee. Susan Cooper. Diana Wynne Jones. Kristin Cashore. Robin McKinley.
K: Southern Writers: Harper Lee, Flannery O’Connor, Anne Rice. YA Authors: S.E. Hinton, Clive Barker, Holly Black, Phillip Pullman, Cassandra Clare.

FBR: What comes to mind when you hear the words "the perfect story"?
M: To Kill A Mockingbird.
K: To Kill a Mockingbird for sure, Fahrenheit 451 & Lord of the Flies.

FBR: What’s the best compliment you’ve received about your book?
M: When it made my sixteen-year-old cry. When Amazon named it the top 5 book of 2009. When Sarah Burnes said she’d sell it. When Jen Hunt said she’d buy it.
K: Margie covered some of the big ones. Making the Indie Next List for Fall/Winter 09 was huge. But it always hits home for me when readers tell me BC made them cry, or they are reading it for the second time.

FBR: Tell us something that we might be surprised to learn about you.
M: I’m scared of everything and Kami is scared of nothing.
K: I wish. My fears are just more insane: earthquakes, snakes, flying, horror movies. So basically, my worst fear would be – snakes on a plane, while the in-flight movie, the Exorcist, is playing in the background, and an earthquake hits as we land.

FBR: What other projects are you currently working on? What can we expect in the future?
M: We just wrapped the sequel to Beautiful Creatures and will be fussing with that for the next few months, while we head out to our BC Southern Tour in January. Stay tuned for details, if you live in the South!
K: We’re always thinking about the world of Beautiful Creatures. At this point, the characters have their own stories to tell, and they are hard to ignore!

You can keep up with Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl at http://www.beautifulcreaturesthebook.com/.

Visit Little, Brown’s Beautiful Creatures website at http://www.somelovesarecursed.com/.

Thanks Kami and Margaret!